An open letter to the Honorable Sarah Parker, chief justice, North Carolina Supreme Court.
Dear Justice Parker:
The people of Surry and Stokes counties need your help. Now.
Without immediate action by you we will continue to have inflicted upon us a quality of justice that not only is an embarrassment to the local legal community, but raises doubts among all concerned that the standard of fairness that those coming into the courtroom deserve will indeed be upheld.
The issue is the continued assignment of District Court Judge Mark Badgett to preside over civil court in Surry County and both civil and criminal courts in Stokes County.
As you are well aware, Judge Badgett was suspended for two months by decision of your court after, among other things, having been found to have lied under oath to the Judicial Standards Commission. Why this simply merited a suspension and not outright removal, disbarment and an indictment for perjury remains a mystery.
During his suspension Judge Badgett was everything but contrite, stating that the actions of both the Judicial Standards Commission and the Supreme Court were unwarranted. He used his free time to campaign for re-election.
And during his suspension the Judicial Standards Commission, acting upon a separate complaint, handed down yet another recommendation for censure, finding, among other things, that he had lied again, and that his judicial temperament displayed ethnic bias.
Despite this recommendation, he was returned to the bench when his suspension expired. Consequently, he can continue to administer his form of perverse jurisprudence until your court acts again, which apparently would come no sooner than your September term.
Unless that is, you were to advise your appointee, Chief District Judge Chuck Neaves, that it would be in the best interests of the district — and justice — that Judge Badgett not preside over any court until yours has the opportunity to rule on the Judicial Standards Commission’s latest findings. That would simply be akin to remanding a repeat offender pending trial.
Apparently at this time you are the last resort for the people of District 17B. You have it in your power to restore the moral, ethical and legal respect necessary for our local court system.
We humbly ask that you use it.
If the several accusations about this judge are true I agree he should leave at once. On the other hand, if this is just a thinly veiled partisan hit job, I’m for having his accusers go through whatever established legal recourse as is available. I’m aware of the perjury issue but that seemed only a small matter when our former president did it, so I set that aside.
Or we could just let lies slide, as the nation’s legislative body has done with the current president. I neither condone the former president’s lie about a sexual matter nor even speak his name without snarling over his campaign disasters of late. But if lies are the basis for impeachment of judges or holders of higher federal office, then let it be done! The cesspool of lies is overflowing these days from too many directions.
People…no matter how rich, poor, famous, or which office or power they hold, need to be held accountable. PERIOD.
Judges are supposed to be the upholders of the truth. They preside over a process where those who testify are subject to criminal charges if they lie, and judges should be held to the same or even higher standards. While I don’t think we should condone a lie from anyone, a judge is the person we should be the least willing to accept it from. To do less raises questions about our entire judicial process.
I don’t see how anyone can argue with that. BUT, there will be.
whadhesay: Judges are non-partisan.
Also: Because one former president lied you are now going to excuse every other elected official for lying? Please tell me this was sarcasm.
There is no way this guy should ever sit on the bench again.
Sometimes, Americans just don’t have a clue. This presidential race proves that.
I would have to agree with “Concerned” on this one. Two (or more) wrongs don’t make a right.
Anyone who thinks judges and judgeship elections are truly nonpartisian is naive. I know the laws were changed a few years ago so the “nonpartisian” label could be used, but the change is purely superficial.
Perjury, just like honesty, is not a partisan monopoly, but rascals will be rascals on either side of the aisle.
Let me give this example. Like teenagers…if they don’t like a rule, they ignore it until it goes away. I see see the same thing with rules and morals in this land. If everyone is not made accountable, soon, it’s almost like it’s more acceptable.
When you say rules and morals, do you also think The Three Stooges (Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld) should all be held accountable for Iraq?
I don’t think we KNOW the truth. If Obama were president and made the same calls, we wouldn’t hear all this fuss about what HE did. It’s the liberal media much of the time.